


Informality

by Enchantable



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Family Bonding, Father-Daughter Relationship, Foreign Language, Gen, Movie Night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-28
Updated: 2013-08-28
Packaged: 2017-12-24 22:32:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/945414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enchantable/pseuds/Enchantable
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stacker keeps his promises, but the journey is not an easy one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Informality

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: So, a prompt where Stacker and bb!Mako watch Hayao Miyazaki films together? Pretty please :D?

The tv appears in her room three days after she first drops her bag on the floor.

its a clunky black thing and even to her inexperienced gaze it’s old. Someone’s cleaned it up, made it shiny and there’s no doubt that it will work. Its the Shatterdome, the best techs in the world live there. Next to it is a shoe box. Mako’s feet are safely tucked in a pair of shoes that have just been broken in and there are several more in her closet. She doesn’t need new shoes. She pulls the lid off the box and looks down at the plastic envelopes piled inside. 

The names are in English and her brow furrows as she works to sound them out in her head. They are more familiar than what she’s used to sounding out. She drops the envelope back in to the box and drops the lid on, turning her back to the device. If she turns away then maybe when she turns back it will be gone. Betrayal and pain churns in her stomach and she wants to hide under the covers. No, she wants to run as far and as fast as her legs will take her. 

She jumps at the knock on the door. 

Her response is immediate as she reaches up and scrubs under her eyes and relaxes her face. She hates it when Sensei walks in on her crying. He doesn’t cry even though he’s lost everyone. He’s stronger than that and Mako wants to be stronger. She wants to be someone worth keeping around. Sensei doesn’t knock again. She doesn’t keep him waiting as she pulls open the door.

Immediately she bows and he returns the gesture. 

"Thank you," she says, her voice low and respectful. 

"You’re welcome," he replies before switching to English, "they will help," he continues.

Heat burns on her cheeks. English still tastes strange on her tongue. She can understand it, she can speak it but when things get stressful she switches to Japanese. She hates it when it happens, when the two languages tangle on her tongue and the other people look at her as though she’s grown a second head. She hates their stares. She hates the attention on her. 

Mako steps aside to let him in. He steps in to the room with her silent invitation. She sees him head towards to the box and quickly goes to pull a chair next to the bed. Sensei holds the box out towards her in a silent offer and she shakes her head. His face shows nothing as he picks a movie out and puts it in the player.

the music makes her heart stop as the images begin to glide on screen.

Her parents were old fashioned. There was a tv in their house but Mako has to think hard to remember the times it was on. when it was it was a huge deal. Now its just her And Sensei and even though there’s nothing wrong with it, it feels wrong. It feels almost like betrayal, even though Mako knows there’s no-one to feel it but her. 

She focuses on the familiar images, drawing her knees up. Sensei’s set the tv so that the voices that play are English but the japanese kanji scroll across the bottom. She lowers her eyes and tries to listen just to the English, they talk quickly and she glances up every so often when she gets lost. She also glances at Sensei. Out of the corner of her eye she can see him sitting ram rod straight in the chair, his eyes focused on the cartoon. 

The exchanges between the characters are quick and sometimes she finds it hard to follow along. But she knows the story and the characters. She knows Sensei has a lot of work to do but he sits there even when the movie’s done. mako pushes herself to her feet and heads for the tv, ejecting the first disk. She looks back at Sensei who inclines his head. She quickly picks the first sleeve that she can find and slides it in to the player before resuming her seat. 

She knows this movie too. 

Movies aren’t easy to come by with all the technological resources being diverted to the jaegers. But there’s a shoebox full of them. full of movies from another country. She can’t imagine how Sensei got them over to them, only that there is so much thought in the gift it makes her head spin. Instead she tightens her hands around her knees and makes sure to pay attention to the words being spoken.

it almost becomes a routine for them. 

It doesn’t happen every night because it can’t happen every night. He’s got responsibilities but when he can he sits with her. And when he can’t she rewatches the movies they’ve already gone through. On the long nights when she can’t sleep she watches them again and again until she dreams of them. The first night she wakes up after dreaming in English nothing can take the smile from her face. 

"You look happy," Tendo says. 

"Yes," she replies, "I need your help," she says.

"Sure thing Mako," he says instantly, "what do you need?"

It’s two weeks before Sensei gets the time to come to her room for a movie night. Mako’s fingers shake as she puts the movie in and goes back on the bed before hitting play. The dark notes of the score boom through the room and the surprise on Sensei’s face makes her heart jump before he relaxes subtly in the chair. Silently they pass the popcorn between them.

from that point on they alternate who gets to pick the movies.


End file.
